Union, Mo. ? They call him Harry, thanks to the infected lightning bolt-shaped gash in his forehead that reminded veterinarian Dawn Mrad of a Harry Potter novel.

Last January, Harry arrived at Longmeadow Rescue Ranch in Union as “horse No. 81,” one of nearly 130 horses confiscated from a rural Republic horse breeder’s ranch.

Harry needed emergency care to stay alive.

“When he came in, he was really thin and didn’t have enough muscle mass left to get up by himself,” Mrad said. “He was able to get his front legs up, but not his back legs. If he was out in a field like that, he would not have survived.”

The horse spent two weeks at Mrad’s veterinary clinic getting IV fluids and antibiotics, a thorough de-worming and a steady supply of nutritious food.

Too weak to stand on his own, Harry needed the veterinary staff to lift him to his feet to help his muscles grow stronger.

Harry thrived on his new diet, putting on several hundred pounds of weight. The hollow hips and protruding ribs are firm and filled now.

The infected lightning bolt gash has healed.

Today, Harry is a bright-eyed 3-year-old quarter horse who is ready to be adopted by a loving owner.

“Harry’s definitely my favorite,” Mrad said. “He’s got a good personality, and he likes to be scratched. He definitely likes attention.”

The challenge

That’s the outcome Earlene Cole wants for all of the horses that arrived at Longmeadow Rescue Ranch last winter.

Cole, the ranch manager, said she took in 88 horses that were seized from William Zobel’s ranch. Another group of 32 horses went to the Carthage Humane Society.

Although some were healthy, many were in states of starvation and neglect. Nine horses weakened by starvation and sickness died at Longmeadow.

“A lot of them didn’t look as bad as they were because they had grown a heavy hair coat to try to keep warm,” Cole said. “They didn’t have any fat on them. But if you washed them, you’d see how skinny they were.”

Farrier Tom Adams said it was clear to him that few of the horses had received hoof care.

Most suffered from “coon foot” – an abnormal lengthening of the hoof from lack of care. One of the worst was a grey-speckled mare nicknamed Hawaii.

“She had really bad abscesses on three of her feet,” Adams said, while lifting one of Hawaii’s hooves to check its progress. “Abscesses are really painful. For a horse, it’s like a toothache, but in your foot.”

Hawaii’s hooves were soaked repeatedly in a cleansing solution, and Adams attached “hospital plates” to the bottom of the hooves to protect them and keep medicine in contact with them.

The infection became so bad at one point that part of the outer layer of the hooves had to be cut away to eliminate the source of the infection.

The treatment worked. Hawaii’s hooves are growing back properly, and she’s put on nearly 500 pounds, thanks to regular feedings.

Recently, Hawaii was shipped to a new home in Missouri.

Colts, too

There were other successes, too.

Cole said many of the horses were pregnant when they arrived, including some that normally wouldn’t have been bred so young.

So far, 19 new additions have been born from Zobel’s former herd. Horse lover Sandy Knaebel couldn’t wait to adopt one of them.

The black 6-month-old colt now frolics at an equestrian training center.

“I named her ‘Cam’ from the word ‘cameo,”‘ Knaebel said. “A cameo is a miniature portrait of a delicate woman. Cam’s a very delicate little horse, very sweet and petite. I just fell in love with her when I saw her.”

Though Cam was born to a horse confiscated from an abusive situation, that didn’t deter Knaebel from adopting her.

In fact, she adopted another horse from Longmeadow a while back, rescued from a different abusive situation, that has become a gentle trail-riding companion.

“It’s amazing to me that some of these horses are so stoic,” she said. “It breaks my heart that people neglect them.”

Punishment questioned

Zobel pleaded guilty to four counts of animal abuse and one count of improperly disposing of a horse corpse last month. He avoided jail time but now faces two years of probation.

Knaebel said that wasn’t enough punishment.

“I’d like to take him out to a pasture, tie him up to a tree and leave him there,” she said.

She’s thankful the humane societies were able to take in so many neglected horses and nurse most of them back to health.

“I dread thinking about what would have happened to those animals if they (humane societies) weren’t in existence,” she said.

Cole said Humane Society records show the Greene County horse confiscation was the biggest in Missouri’s history.

The next largest seizure involved a herd of 40 abused horses taken from a farm in northern Missouri in 1998.

Expensive care

Cole said caring for the Greene County horses for nearly a year has cost more than $200,000.

The abuse case sent shock waves through the horse world nationwide.

Although saddened by the scope of the rescue, Cole said the case had several silver linings.

She praised Greene County authorities for acting quickly to confiscate the horses and for following the case to its conclusion.

And she said Zobel’s court challenges, including a claim that went all the way to the Missouri Supreme Court, had a beneficial effect.

The high court ruled that the seizure of Zobel’s animals was done properly and that a Greene County circuit judge was within his rights to give custody of the horses to the two humane societies.

“Now we have a clarification of the disposition law that permits abused animals to be confiscated,” she said. “Now it’s clear to everybody that what Greene County did was correct.”